=/\= Living Dream Hotel, Registration =/\= "Ah, Lieutenant Foster," said the small grey man at the front desk. "What a pleasure it is to meet you! Please, please, if you could put your mark on our guest register, we'll be on our way!" Andy shrugged his shoulder, repositioning the weight of his bag as he leaned forward, and carefully placed his thumb in the area the small man had indicated. He looked around the expansive lobby, all hardwood, glass, brass, and water in a tastefully luxurious combination. "Excellent! My name is Lorst, and I am the assistant concierge assigned to your account when we learned you were coming," said the grey man ebbuliently, as he made his way around to the front of the desk. "I must say, Lieutenant, you posed an interesting challenge for us at the Living Dream Hotel ... yes, yes, we provide anything for our patrons, whether they ask, or whether they merely think of it," chattered Lorst excitedly, "but you, ha-ha! You were a tough blezit to scratch." Andy followed Lorst to an elevator where they were whisked to a differnt part of the station, as the diminutive alien continued going on and on about how the living dream hotel staff enjoys special challenges, etc. He scarcely knew what to think, and wondered if all guests received this schpiel. How much could they know about him to know what kind of accomodation he'd want? He idly wondered with a bit of discomfort, exactly *how* they'd know what his innermost dreams would be, and pondered how much he really wanted complete strangers poking around in his private dreams, no matter how much they wished to oblige ... They exited the lift and entered a hallway. Andy instantly felt a little lightheaded, and noticed the gravity here was probably only about 1/3 what he was accustomed to ... they must be closer to the inner ring/core of the station. "We're afraid we had to put your room in a different part of the Hotel than most of the rest of your companions," said Lorst apologetically, "but your particular needs were better suited for "A" section." Needs? Finally, the two made their way to a door, and Lorst, brimming with excitement and pride, bade Andy to place his thumbprint on the reader. He did so. "Whoa!" For an instant, Andy feared he'd opened an airlock, since the other side of the door revealed the vast expanse of space, with some sort of star cruiser travelling slowly by in the far distance. Reflexively, he grabbed the edge of the door. "Whoa." Blinking several times, Andy reassured himself that he wasn't being sucked into a void, and then realized this must be some sort of holo-simulation -- it couldn't be an airlock; if this door were to open up, he'd surely see a part of the hull of the hotel. "Come, come!' said Lorst beside himself with glee, and the little man took Andy by the hand, and stepped though the door, bringing Andy on through with him. A soft blue halo surrounded them as the passed through. Instantly, it became horribly cold, and Andy's ears were popping repeatedly as he felt the pressure evaporate quickly. Not explosively ... it was more of a controlled and rapid decompression. "Whaaaa?" was all he managed to say before the air left his lungs, and he was unable to talk. Lorst, in the meantime, had changed into an odd sort of ameoba, and began floating toward the ship in the distance, and seemed to be beconing for Andy to follow. Andy shook his head and began to panic, not understanding the what the hoteliers were doing to him ... this wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare! Andy slowly began to suffocate. After a moment, the amoeba slowed to a halt and regarded him curiously. Andy was spinning gently, counterclockwise, limbs flailing desperately, attempting to swim back to the door through the nothingness. He tried gasping for a breath, but nothing would fill his lungs ... he continued his attempt to turn in futility, and finally succumbed to the darkness. =/\= Hotel Infirmary =/\= Lorst was wringing his hands in anxiety, blubbering to Ponozka, the corpulent Hotelmaster, in confusion. "I don't understand it, sir! All his bioreadings checked out that this should have been an optimal environment for his dormant form!" Andy lay motionless on a bed beside them, a shimmering gold field surrounding his body. "Get ahold of yourself, Lorst," grumbled Ponozka irratably. "What do you mean dormant? He couldn't --" "You sent for me?" "Ah, Commander Summers," said Ponozka, shifting rapidly into an attitude of warmth and hospitality. "Thank you for responding so rapidly." Rangi looked at the two men. "I was told one of my crew had taken ill?" she asked looking over Lorst's shoulder in an attempt to identify the person under the force field. "What's happened?" Ponozka smiled. "Ah. Yes. My assistant concierge here was just explaining to me ... apparently your shapeshifting crewman needed to be in his alternate form to enjoy the luxury of his custom-designed room, and --" "Shapeshifting?" "Why, yes, Madam," said Lorst, who'd undergone a similar transformation of attitude. "Our bioscan of Lieutenant Andersen Foster indicated that he is a shapeshifting life form. Since it seemed he spent most of his time in his humanoid form, we felt it would be a welcome surprise if he were to spend his vacation --" "His room was designed to meet the every need of his alternate form," interrupted Ponozko, who continued to wear a frozen and reassuring smile, "in the utmost luxury." "We'd even provided a ship with a nice large manifold engine, if he wanted to feed -- " added Lorsk helpfully. "He can't shapechange at will!" cried Rangi in worried exaspiration. "Ah. Yes," said Ponozko uncomfortably. "We discovered that ..." =/\= Outer Ring, The Dream Hotel, twelve hours later =/\= Once again, Andy walked beside Lorst, who continued to babble nonstop in profuse apology. Andy had regained conciousness in the Chimera Sick bay, and Nurse Simpson explained to him that he was recovering from oxygen depravation and mild decompression sickness. Rangi had him beamed aboard the Chimera, and after seeing that he was stable, left him in the capable hands of Ra'nar. Anne explained to him that the hotel had been very apologetic about their error, and wished to make amends. Ra'nar made a report to Rangi that Andy had made a full recovery after 8 hours in a stasis field, while they reoxygenated his blood and slowly brought the atmospheric pressure back up to normal levels. He was released, and the hotel had invited him back as their guest, practically begging him to allow them to make it up to him. Hey, he still had another 30 hours of leave left, he thought. Might as well make the most of it. "When I saw that you didn't change form, I realized something was wrong, and had you transported to our infirmiary," continued Lorsk, who'd been talking obsequiously nonstop since he returned to the registration desk earlier in the day. "All I can say is that I am so very happy and relieved that you decided to return to the Living Dream Hot -- ah!" he said, abruptly stopping his monologue. "Here we are, I most sincerely hope that this room will meet your needs more accurately." The doors opened up to reveal a lush, sweet-smelling forest, filled with huge golden-white trees reaching over 150 meters into the sky, and a gentle underbrush of ferns aching to tickle exposed ankles. Beside them, carved into one of the great trees was a majestic spiral staircase, that wound its way around the trunk and opened into a spacious apartment with all the latest amenities. Andy looked around in astonished approval. "Gorim Forest!" he whispered under his breath, and touched the smooth, glasslike bark of the druid tree that held the apartment, 20 meters above them. It was a resort in the Ba'lilal province on Alpha Centauri he'd been to once, when he was in Academy ... the parents of his girlfriend at the time owned a membership at the exclusive resort, and invited him to stay with them. It was one of the most beautiful places he'd ever been. "This," said Andy to a beaming Lorsk, "will do nicely." Lt. Andersen Foster Operations Officer USS Chimera-A